Prince: Demands On Festival the Latest In Diminishing Superstar
By now we have all heard of Prince's latest PR debacle, insisting on a limo to drive him 80 feet from the dressing room (built to his specs and painted purple) to the stage at England's Hop Farm Music Festival.
It should be obvious that Prince doesn't give a shit what his audience thinks about his antics. Prince lives, like the majority of rock stars, in a cloistered environment that has nothing to do with his audience. Remember how punk was a reaction against rock stars? It didn't take.
But Prince should care since he is battling Congress to uphold anti-piracy laws. In theory, Prince is 100% right. In practice, these laws aren't enforceable and all the posturing in the world isn't gonna change it.
And ABSOLUTELY, if you are seen as a despicable, greedy, dwarf past your prime and knee jerking your audience and your government, you have a definite problem. That is what Prince is, he is just a horrorshow or greed and distemper. Like Katy Perry on one side and Bruce Springsteen, it is becoming impossible for them to hide their hubris. They are BAD NEWS -arrogant to the point of insanity, greedy, cold. Prince doesn't give a shit about anybody but the girls he wants to fucks and his world of rock and roll stars, preferably black rock and roll stars.
Let's grade Prince's albums and see where it gets us:
For You (1978) B
Prince (1979) B+
Dirty Mind (1980) A+
Controversy (1981) B+
1999 (1982) A
Purple Rain (1984) A
Around the World in a Day (1985) B+
Parade (1986) A-
Sign o' the Times (1987) A+
Lovesexy (1988) B+
Batman (1989) B
Graffiti Bridge (1990) A-
Diamonds and Pearls (1991) B+
Come (1994) B-
The Black Album (1994) B+
The Gold Experience (1995) B
Chaos and Disorder (1996) B-
Emancipation (1996) B+
Crystal Ball (1998) A-
The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale (1999) B-
Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999) C+
Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic (2001) C+
The Rainbow Children (2001) C-
One Nite Alone… (2002) B+
Xpectation (2003) C
C-Note (2003) C+
N.E.W.S (2003) C+
Musicology (2004) B-
The Chocolate Invasion (2004) C-
The Slaughterhouse (2004) C-
3121 (2006) C-
Planet Earth (2007) B
Lotusflow3r / MPLSound (2009) D+
20Ten (2010) (haven't heard it)
More or less, I consider that an accurate take on the man.
Notice anything? Sure you do. The little fuck isn't as great as you think he is. On stage? He hit the heights in the mid-1980s and his current tour? I saw it. It wasn't as great. Not bad, mind. I'm not saying that -but on a curve? Not so much. I saw him at Roseland in the 1990s and he was better than this. At MSG in 2006, Jones Beach around the same time.
It is one thing to be a beloved figure resting on your laurels, something else to be a cocksucker doing the same thing. The last great song he wrote was "Sometimes I Wanna Die And Come Back As One Of Your Tears" in 1998. he has written some good songs since then but albums filled with sub Sly/Funkadelia jams, spinning their wheels into oblivion.
Prince fought so hard, and rightfully so, for the rights to his own masters, and to do what with them? Release one self-indulgent piece of crap album after another. And then he follows it by the worst live 20 minutes I have ever seen him perform last December. And I have seen him countless times. At the end of the lean 2 hour set, Prince invites his lame ass VIPs to get on stage and waste everybody's time. Cornel West? Are you joking me. The music sucked, the attitude was arrogant, smug and irrelevant.
And then he whines about how people are stealing his music through file sharing. People might be stealing music, but it isn't Princes'. And then he says he doesn't wanna record any more because the sound sucks on MP3's. The sound sucks because his are extended jerkoffs. That's why the songs suck.
Finally, he wants a limo to drive him 80 feet. Not a golf cart, like most human beings. This born again Christian, wouldn't know humility (surely a divining characteristic of his faith) if you shoved it down his mother fucking throat.
And he won't sing "Head" any more.
The man is a bore. He should stop acting like an asshole and write good songs.
